Scott Piper finished his studies at The University of Michigan - Ann Arbor in 1999 under the guidance of George Shirley and Shirley Verrett.
He started his professional career at Madison Opera in 1999, as Alfredo, in a much-acclaimed production of Verdi's La Traviata under the baton of Louis Salemno.
Since that time, he has appeared with Houston Grand Opera, Dayton Opera, Madison Opera, Minnesota Opera, Opera Pacific, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Michigan Opera Theater, and New York City Opera, the International Music Festival of Macau, Vancouver Opera (British Columbia), Compañia Lírica Nacional de Costa Rica, the New People's Theater of Moscow (Russia). In Italy he has appeared in Rome, Catanzaro, Modena, Ravenna, and at Teatro di Verdi in Busseto.
Highlights of the 2006 / 2007 included his debuts with Seattle Opera and Opera Birmingham as Rodolfo in La Boheme, Jose in Carmen with New York City Opera, Tulsa Opera and Des Moines Metro Opera, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Eugene Symphony. Other recent engagements include a return to Minnesota Opera in the North American Premiere of Mercadante’s Orazi & Curiazi, Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut for the Intermountain Opera Association, and his Glimmerglass Opera debut as Steva in Jenufa.
Engagements for 2007 / 2008 saw Mr. Piper as Don Jose in Carmen once again with New York City Opera as well as with Intermountain Opera, returning to Jacksonville Symphony for Alfredo in La Traviata, singing Cavaradossi for Utah Opera’s Tosca, and making his debut with Florentine Opera as Tebaldo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi.
Engagements for 2008 / 2009 include Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore with Dayton Opera, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with both Florentine Opera and the Utah Opera, the Duke in Rigoletto with the Anna Livia International Opera Festival in Dublin Ireland, and Rodolfo in La Boheme and Alfredo in La Traviata with New Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv.
Scott Piper's engagements for the season 2009 / 2010 include, among others, a series of concerts with the Dayton Philharmonic in December 2009 and an appearance at the Saint-Barts Music Festival in January 2010. He sings again the title role of Gounod's Faust for The New Israeli Opera and Dayton Opera during spring 2010.
The seasons 2010 and 2011 are already very busy for Scott Piper with his débuts in Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor with the Seattle Opera (September – October 2010) and his first Calaf in Turandot at the Pensacola Opera in Florida (March 2011). He will sing the part of Don Jose in Carmen at the Nashville Opera (April 2011) and then appear in Israel for Verdi's Jérusalem in (May 2011) and Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana (autumn 2011).
As a concert soloist, Scott Piper has appeared with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, the Plymouth Symphony, the Flint Symphony, the Handel Choir of Baltimore, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, the Madison Symphony, the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra, the Shreveport Symphony and the Canton Symphony Orchestra. With the Friends of the Opera of Michigan he sang the North American Premiere of Perosi’s oratorio La Rissurezione di Christo.
Scott Piper appears as Alfredo in the DVD of Franco Zeffirelli’s production’s of La Traviata with Stefania Bonfadell, Renato Bruson and conducted by Placido Domingo.
Scott has received awards from: the Univeristy of Michigan Friends of the Opera, the National Society of Arts and Letters, the William C. Byrd Foundation, the Gerda Lissner Foundation, the Ken Boxley Foundation, the Licia Albanese-Puccini Competition, the George London Foundation, and received the Jim and Janice Botsford Study Grant.
NOVEMBER 2010
